I AM PERSONALLY confident that I am an essentially good person.
I know because I’ve never really intentionally hurt anyone.
Well, maybe I did one, or two.
But it’s always because I was provoked to rightful wrath.
But generally, I’m good.
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Essentially good.
That is why I have the balls to be scrutinized, and judged publicly.
As part of my self-inventory, I’ve devised a Road To Fifty Survey on social media.
One of the first questions was: Is Peter Solis Nery… Good, or Not Good?
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Of course, I did not expect people—my Facebook friends especially, to say I am not good.
People are just too afraid to start a Facebook war with me.
But I wanted some kind of validation.
On my terms!
And I got what I wanted.
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Of course, everybody said essentially that I am good.
Some argued that Good is not good enough to describe me.
That I am the best, the greatest, the most awesome.
They try to be smart.
But I tell them, that’s why we Filipinos fail at the Miss Universe final interviews—because we can’t answer the question properly.
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Is Peter Solis Nery… Good or Not Good?
One multiple choice question.
Two choices: Good, and Not Good.
How can you answer, The Best?
How can you answer, Peter Solis Nery is amazing!?
How can you answer with an essay?
And again, that’s why many Filipinos fail in the test of English as a foreign language.
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We think that we are smarter than the question.
We beg the question.
We over analyze things.
We are so conscious of our appropriated smartness and intelligence.
We are so consumed by our own opinions that we fail to see that the answers to most questions in life are really right under our noses.
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We always think that verbosity is the way to go.
We are led to think that life is all talk.
And to be smart, we have to have kilometric lines full of verve and pizzazz.
Like a Miss Q & A contest where elaborate and witty talaktakan wins even if it has really no point.
And no bearing to the original question.
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Again, the question is:
Is Peter Solis Nery… Good, or Not Good?
If you want to analyze this question, understand the confidence of a man who subjects himself to public scrutiny.
Understand the courage of a man risking a Not Good response in social media.
Or, maybe the bigger risk of being ignored.
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I stand taller than most because I know in my heart that I am essentially good.
I am even prouder because I know that I got friends, and followers, who believe that I am essentially good.
Visit that post on Facebook (search #RoadToFiftySurvey), and study it, if you are interested.
But understand this: I am loved. And I am perceived as Good.
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Why is the survey important to me?
Because I am becoming emotional as I approach my landmark age of 50.
And I am my own psycho-therapist.
I heal myself.
Even as I heal other people.
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And all I wanted at this time is a confirmation that people perceive me not even as Good, but as undeniably Good.
I already know that I am good.
(Some people insist that I am More than Good!)
But since our lives now are so influenced by social media, and I am a social media influencer, I wanted to know how people perceive me in the social media.
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Apparently, no one can say that I am Not Good.
I like that.
It encourages me to be even better.
It encourages me to do even more good things.
It makes me feel even more powerful.
It makes me feel my life (all 49 years of it now) has not been in vain.
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And so, I can continue to be inspiring, and inspirational.
I can continue without being worried about my critics, and detractors, if there are still some remaining.
The point of the survey is to know that I have real people backing me up.
I don’t care if they were (or are) lying about their opinions of me.
That’s their issue.
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This is what I got: Peter Solis Nery is Good.
My goodness cannot be denied.
My goodness is not even contradicted.
My goodness can even be inspiring.
And this modern world needs an inspiration.
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It takes courage for anyone to ask others if s/he is good.
Because sometimes, we do not get the answers that we want.
I have the balls to ask the question, and I have been answered.
I have been made to believe that I am essentially good.
Not that I didn’t know it already myself.
But it’s nice to be validated!
It empowers me. (500tinaga@gmail.com/PN)
